COLUMBUS, Ohio — Few NFL guards have run-blocked with more gusto than Alan Faneca. It’s why there’s a tailor in Canton, Ohio, taking his measurements for his gold blazer this summer.
Faneca played 10 seasons with the Steelers (1998-2007) and half of them produced top-5 finishes in rushing yardage. He bore holes in opposing defenses for Jerome Bettis and threw the famous block that sprung Willie Parker for his 75-yard touchdown run, the longest in Super Bowl history, in 2006.
Given the franchise’s long-standing commitment to the ground game, Faneca has found it odd to watch his former team sink to the bottom of the NFL’s rushing pool.
“Every now and then, you do what you have to do because that’s what circumstances dictate,” Faneca said. “But it was weird to see. It’s like you’re not even watching the same team because it’s been a certain way for so long in Pittsburgh.”
Faneca understands the league is now beholden to the pass. Quarterbacks and receivers are its star attractions. Fullbacks sometimes get fewer snaps than punters.
But in recent years, the run game has enjoyed a resurgence in part to counter defenses that routinely employ five and six defensive backs. The 49ers reached the Super Bowl two seasons ago with a dominant rushing attack. Leonard Fournette was a valuable contributor to the Buccaneers’ title push last month. Derrick Henry and Nick Chubb are thriving. Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen are even providing a dual threat from the quarterback position.
“I think there are some teams starting to realize you can’t just pass the ball,” Faneca said. “You still need the running game, you still need complementary football even if you are not going to hang your hat on it and do it all day.”
Someone should remind the Steelers prior to the NFL Draft. As division rivals Baltimore and Cleveland place a greater emphasis on balanced attacks, Pittsburgh has grown too reliant on passing. In two of the past three seasons, the Steelers ranked second in pass-play percentage. And since the end of the 2017 season — Le’Veon Bell’s last with the club — the Steelers have finished 31st, 29th and 32nd in rushing, averaging a paltry 88.4 yards per game.
To add context, Chubb alone averaged 80.8 yards in the same span.
“The run game does not give you near as many explosive plays percentage wise,” NFL analyst Greg Cosell told DK Pittsburgh Sports’ Dale Lolley this week. “But the run game doesn’t matter until you can’t run it at all.”
That’s where the Steelers found themselves at the end of last season, while losing five of their last six games. Perhaps nobody put it more succinctly than NFL Network analyst and future Hall of Fame left tackle Joe Thomas:
“I’m not standing around at Pittsburgh Steelers’ practices watching them, but I know they are not spending a lot of time working on the run game because I see what they are focusing on on Sundays. ... You get what you practice.”
Whether it was concerns with the offensive line or running backs, or both, Ben Roethlisberger and former offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner lost faith in the rushing attack.
It’s clear the cap-strapped Steelers must address the issue in the draft. A new featured back and an upgrade at the tackle position are musts. The changes will not only benefit Roethlisberger in his final season, but the quarterback who inherits the position in 2022.
Similar moves helped a longtime AFC North punching bag hit back hard at end of last season.
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Benny Snell gets swarmed by the Bengals Dec. 20, 2020, in Cincinnati.
‘IMPOSING YOUR WILL’
When the Steelers walked out of Heinz Field on Jan. 10, following a 48-34 playoff loss to Cleveland, they were in no mood for obscure trivia.
But the Browns rushed for a combined 319 yards against Pittsburgh in the regular-season finale and the Wild Card game. Working backward, you would have to return to 1971 and 1972 seasons for the last time Cleveland ran for more yards versus the Steelers in consecutive games. Chubb and Kareem Hunt accounted for four touchdowns with Chubb scoring on plays of 47 and 40 yards.
We’re talking about an opponent that historically struggles against Pittsburgh on the ground and the scoreboard.
“It’s been a combination of several things,” Browns analyst and former Pro Bowl tackle Doug Dieken said. “They have two great backs, a strong offensive line and a coach committed to running the ball.”
Kevin Stefanski, who earned NFL Coach of the Year honors in his first season, revitalized the Browns’ attack and, by extension, made Baker Mayfield a more efficient quarterback.
Stefanski inherited Chubb and Hunt, who Cleveland acquired in 2019 after being released from the Chiefs for off-field issues. In remaking their offensive identity, the Browns drafted left tackle Jedrick Wills, added right tackle Jack Conklin through free agency and promoted Wyatt Teller, who they acquired in a 2019 trade, to starting right guard. They also went outside the organization to get respected offensive line coach Bill Callahan, who utilizes a wide-zone blocking scheme.
The Browns not only finished third in rushing (148.8 yards), but cut Mayfield’s steak into smaller pieces for him. The quarterback was asked to shoulder less of the offensive burden after a disastrous sophomore season. He embraced his new role as a game manager and helped lead the Browns to their first playoff berth in 18 years.
Cleveland threw the ball just 52.2 percent of the time. Fellow division rival Baltimore, fueled by the running of Jackson and rookie J.K. Dobbins, passed on just 49.9 percent of their plays — the fewest in the league. Meanwhile, the Steelers ranked second (65.5) in the category only behind Jacksonville (66.2).
Rattled by a leaky offensive line in 2019, Mayfield thrived behind a rebuilt unit that was rated first overall by Pro Football Focus.
“It helped Baker quite a bit,” Dieken said. “When you have a quarterback who’s not 6-foot-5 and can’t look down the field as easily, it’s good to give him some rollouts and bootlegs, and that’s what the Browns did.”
As the Steelers look to a future without Roethlisberger, they need to ply their next quarterback with a running game that can relieve pressure. You know, kind of the way the franchise did with Roethlisberger in his 2004 rookie season.
Fans often think of Roethlisberger as the big-armed passer delivering pots of gold on the ends of rainbows to Plaxico Burress, Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown. But he was greatly aided by a running game that finished first in 2004 and third in 2005.
“When you are imposing your will, there’s nothing an offensive lineman loves more,” Faneca said. “Defenses know what you are going to do, but when you run the ball that well, you’re still able to do it.”
Roethlisberger was among the quarterbacks who thrived as the league evolved with rule changes and spread formations. In recent seasons, however, the 38-year-old Roethlisberger could have used a more dependable rushing attack.
He didn't require a Chubb or Henry, but just someone to help move the chains, especially late last season. Injuries have limited James Conner over the last three years, and none of his backups, including Benny Snell and Anthony McFarland, have provided anything except the occasional flash.
Maybe it’s why Roethlisberger felt compelled to throw 608 times in 2020— the third-most in the league — despite winning 12 games and enjoying some early success running the football.
“If they’re going to run a similar type of offense this year, my sense is that they’re going to have to run the ball with a little more consistency and a little more volume,” Cosell said of the Steelers. “I know there are big debates about the run game and whether it has any meaning, that’s a debate (for another time). But I do think they need to run the ball with more volume and more success.”
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Anthony McFarland is wrapped up by the Browns’ Ronnie Harrison Jan. 3 in Cleveland.
‘RECIPE FOR SUCCESS’
So how should the Steelers approach the upcoming draft? Does Kevin Colbert use the No. 24 overall pick on a running back to jumpstart an offense now coordinated by Matt Canada, who relied on pre-snap motion and misdirection during his college coaching days?
The Steelers might be positioned to select Alabama’s Najee Harris or Clemson’s Travis Etienne in the first round.
Dane Brugler, a draft analyst for The Athletic, said there’s no right or wrong choice in deciding what to take first, a running back or offensive tackle, if boosting the run game is a priority. It comes down to draft grades and personal preference.
“If you have two guys rated similar then, OK, take the greater need,” Brugler said. “But if you have a player that’s rated higher in terms of talent level, you start to make mistakes when you take the lesser talented guy (regardless of the position).”
In 2013 and 2014, no running backs were drafted in the first round of consecutive years for the first time in league history. While a Saquon Barkley (2018) and Ezekiel Elliott (2016) still command a top-10 pick, many teams are waiting until late in the first round or the second day to find value at the position.
Chubb is a prime example. The Browns selected him No. 35 overall in 2018. He wasn’t even the first University of Georgia running back off the board as New England grabbed Sony Michel four spots earlier. Henry, the stiff-arming monster, went No. 45 overall to the Titans in 2016. Tackle-breaking runners such as Chubb and Henry are feasting against defenses that seem to be getting smaller with the infusion of extra defensive backs to combat spread formations.
Brugler could see the Steelers pursuing an offensive tackle followed by a running back. The club figures to be set at guards with David DeCastro and Kevin Dotson, while it took its first step to replacing Maurkice Pouncey on Friday by signing veteran center/guard B.J. Finney.
“In a perfect world, (the Steelers) would be able to draft (Oklahoma offensive tackle) Teven Jenkins in the first round and then (North Carolina running back) Javonte Williams in the second round,” Brugler said. “Will both of those guys be on the board at that point? It’s hard to say.”
The offensive tackle class is deep, Brugler said, and the Steelers would be well served to get either Jenkins or Virginia Tech’s Christian Darrisaw. But in this scenario, Harris, Etienne and Williams easily could be gone by the time Pittsburgh selects again at No. 55. If that's the case, Brugler would advise to wait until the third or fourth round to get their running back.
He believes the likes of Michael Carter (North Carolina), Trey Sermon (Ohio State) and Kenneth Gainwell (Memphis) could be decent fits.
Cosell takes a slightly different view.
“I was told years and years ago — and I’m sure the analytics people will say this is false — but I was told this by coaches, that the running back makes the running game, not the offensive line,” said Cosell, who also serves as an NFL Films producer. “Obviously, if you’ve got a terrible offensive line, that’s different. Assuming your offensive line is good enough and you have some kind of commitment to running the ball, you can have success if you have a quality back.”
No matter the order, the Steelers cannot continue down the same path, one littered with failed short-yardage runs and a paucity of chunk plays in the ground game.
Contending teams are finding ways to run the ball efficiently — even ones reliant on the pass. Fournette compiled just 367 yards rushing in 13 regular-season appearances, but he was a significant asset to Tampa Bay in the playoffs. Fournette ran for 300 yards and 4.7 yards per carry in four postseason games, allowing Tampa to grind out wins.
“Having a strong running game and a commitment to it is still a recipe for success for a lot of teams,” Brugler said.
After the past three years, the Steelers should know as much. And if they’re still unsure, maybe they should solicit the opinion of their former guard who’s being fitted for a gold jacket.
